Signalgate report finds Hegseth potentially put U.S. forces at risk
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President Trump speaks as U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth looks on during a meeting of his Cabinet at White House on Dec. 2. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. operations and troops at risk during a strike in Yemen by sending sensitive information to a Signal groupchat on an unapproved device, a Pentagon watchdog concluded in a long-awaited report.
Why it matters: The March bombshell from the The Atlantic that its editor-in-chief was inadvertently included in a Trump administration Signal chat on airstrikes in Yemen has haunted Hegseth and sparked questions about his handling of sensitive information for months.
- A House Democrat announced Wednesday that he plans to introduce a longshot effort to impeach Hegseth, in part citing the Signal fiasco.
Driving the news: Hegseth "created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots" by sharing sequencing details about an upcoming attack on the Houthis in Yemen over an "unapproved, unsecure network," the Inspector General's report reads.
- Per the report, Hegseth told the IG's office in a statement that "there were no details that would endanger our troops or the mission."
- But the watchdog concluded that "if this information had fallen into the hands of U.S. adversaries, Houthi forces might have been able to counter U.S. forces or reposition personnel and assets to avoid planned U.S. strikes."
Yes, but: Chief Pentagon spokesperson and senior adviser Sean Parnell described the report, which found that Hegseth violated DoD policy, as a "TOTAL exoneration" that "proves" that "no classified information was shared."
- Hegseth echoed that statement, touting "Total exoneration."
- Hegseth said in his written statement to the IG that he had determined that the information he shared on Signal, some of which came from classified emails from U.S. Central Command, did not need to be classified, per the report.
- But he did not comply with DoD policy "when he sent sensitive, nonpublic, DoD operational information over Signal from his personal cellphone," the inspector general concluded.
What's inside: The report said that Hegseth declined to be interviewed and didn't provide direct access to his personal cell phone.
- His office did provide a portion of the Signal chat matching what was shared in The Atlantic, the report stated, but it excluded a "number of messages that had auto-deleted by the time the information was captured from the Secretary's phone because of settings in the chat."
Friction point: Some lawmaker pushed back on Hegseth's conclusion that the report absolved him. Sen Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said on CNN's "The Source" Wednesday that "No one can rationalize that as an exoneration."
- Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) slammed Hegseth for what he called "failure and stupidity" that he said "puts Americans at risk."
Go deeper: Even Republicans say Trump's Signalgate scandal is serious: poll
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.
